Fernandinho knows the stakes as Manchester City welcome Arsenal for Saturday's early game. "I know for us it is a life and death game. We want to win to get to the top," he says of their attempt to cut the deficit to the leaders to three points. "They are the team that has been the most consistent since the start of the season. They have played some excellent games, they have good players and I think we have a huge challenge upon us."

"Our team for about a month or so now has been increasing in confidence and the results have been helping that," he says. "No-one expected us to go to Bayern on Tuesday and beat them. They are European champions. But football is like that - it has these surprises and we might cause another one on Saturday."

Without a title since 2004 Arsenal's credentials are about to be examined with Chelsea next up following City. "Sometimes it is difficult to talk about [the character] of a team that you don't know very well. Maybe they think that way about us as well. But I know they will have some difficult games and of course I hope they lose some of them. I don't know if they have been properly tested yet but we certainly have," says Fernandinho.

If City can dislodge Arsenal over the Christmas period to lead the title hunt they would hope to stay there for the rest of the season. "I hope that is the case. I don't know if it will happen but that is my wish - to get to the top and stay there," he says.

City boast a 100% league record at the Etihad Stadium, the venue where they have experienced only two league defeats since August 2011. Yet the four losses in the first six away games has left their challenge stuttering. After the 1-0 loss at Sunderland a month ago stern words were exchanged.

Fernandinho says: "Our team has been playing much better recently. The turning point was the defeat to Sunderland. After that we changed a few things and since then we have been playing well. We have achieved a few good wins and I think on Saturday we will put in a good performance. Everyone knows that every game in England is a huge game. But when you lose a match against the team that is bottom of the league [as Sunderland were], everyone knows something must change. Each one of us has changed, and that can be seen from the outside.

"We have excellent players and an excellent manager and we only needed a strong chat between us for things to change, and that was what it was all about."

Fernandinho concurs. "I agree with the manager's opinion," he says. "I think we are getting close to it now. We are trying to perform in every game the best we can and I think we are very close to achieving that consistency of performance in every match. I think once we get that, we will be there or thereabouts."

Of his move from Shakhtar Donetsk to City, Fernandinho, 28, says: "We all know the Premier League is a competitive league and that every game is competitive. That was something I didn't have in my eight years in Ukraine, so I had to prove to myself I was able to play in a huge competition like this, and I think I made the right choice. Since I arrived here it has been well above my expectation. This is exactly what I was hoping for."

The former Atlético Paranaense player has five international caps though has not featured for Brazil since last year. To make Luiz Felipe Scolari's squad for the World Cup in his homeland would be a dream, although the midfielder might not be so welcome in Manaus – the Amazon city which host's England first group match against Italy. "The city has never had a Premier League team. I remember about 10 years ago the national team played there once. But the city doesn't have any football history," he says. "Manaus has got nothing in relation to Brazilian football history."

Unlike Fernandinho, who is starting to write himself into the annals of his new club.